Move the World
by A Process of Thought
Summary: "One man who saw through his own eyes and thought with his own brain. Such men may be rare, they may be unknown, but they move the world." – The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand


**Author's Note**: Hello! So this is _Move the World_. It's a MWPP-era story. I don't own anything. Let me know what you think. I'm not big on long author's notes and considering this is the first chapter, I don't have much to say. I will try to update regularly, but don't get too mad at me if I don't. :) Reviews of any kind are greatly appreciated. Part titles, quotes in the beginning of each chapter in italics - belong to Ayn Rand's _The Fountainhead_.

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><p><em>Part One: Of Brotherhood and Mutual Respect<em>

Where Sirius and James are planning to get back at Snape for spying on the group and where Remus is trying to get them to forget about him and where Peter is feeling left out.

"_The egoist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man - and he asks no other man to exist for him. This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men."_

Chapter One_:  
><em>

"_**I don't need you guys to look over me constantly. I'm a big boy."**_

"I don't get this."

"So, what are our plans for Snivellus?"

"I don't really think we need to do anything to Snape."

"Seriously guys, I don't understand this."

"Of course we need to do something to Snape. He was poking his head into our business once again."

"Yeah, Moon, come on. If he doesn't learn his lesson, I don't think he'll ever stop trying to stalk us."

"I just don't think we need to _prank_ him."

"What then? I hate to break it to you, but I really don't think that sitting down for a heart-to-heart with our least favorite Slytherin is going to work here."

"Please? It's due tomorrow, guys."

"So what are you going to do instead? Hex him? Turn him upside down and reveal his trousers again? Do you really think that's going to help you get Lily, James? Do you really think that's going to help you get off of McGonagall's radar, Sirius?"

"What do you recommend us doing instead?"

"Leave it be."

"Guys, please."

"Well that's not really going to teach him his lesson is it?"

"I don't care!"

"Can I at least look at yours?"

"Moony, come on. He's a _Slytherin_. He's a lowlife scum. And to make matters worse, he is _this_ close to finding out your little secret!"

"Just don't do anything stupid."

"Guys!"

Three heads whipped around to stare at the fourth. It was rare that the short, timid boy would have an outburst such as that. The three boys looked at him in astonishment, surprised that he would have lost his temper like that; he never did. He, on the other hand, was embarrassed immediately. His cheeks flushed bright red and his head snapped down to look at his open textbook in front of him. "Sorry," he mumbled out under his breath.

"Uh," one of his friends stumbled out. "Yeah, let me see what you've got." He reached for his friend's parchment and pulled it towards him. He gave the other two a look, who guiltily nodded and slipped off out of the common room.

Climbing the stairs, they looked at one another. "We're getting him back," one said to the other.

"Of course we are," the other, bespectacled one, responded. "We wouldn't be the notorious Padfoot and Prongs if we didn't, now would we?" He smirked and the other grinned widely, showing his teeth. They nodded again as they entered their dormitory. One slunk off to the bathroom while the other removed his loosened uniform tie and flopped onto his bed.

"So Prongs," the latter said as he grabbed a book off of his nightstand. "What exactly do we have in mind for Mr. Snape?"

"Oh, I don't know," the one called Prongs called from the bathroom door, where he emerged from seconds later with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. "I fee' 'ike we should go a 'ittel bit above and beyond wif 'ish one, 'ough." He mumbled out, his words disfigured by the brushing movements of the toothbrush against his teeth.

His companion nodded his head in agreement, not bothering to look up at his friend and continued to flip through the pages of his book. "Well, no pink hair dye and no jelly-like legs this time then."

Prongs smirked and a trickle of toothpaste dripped down out of the corner of his mouth. "I 'ink sho."

The other put his finger in his book to hold his place before he closed it and looked up at his friend. "Maybe it's too early to rule out dear old Moony's idea then."

The dark, messy-haired bespectacled boy raised his eyebrow before heading to the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste. When he returned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he tilted his head. "And what, my dear Messieurs Padfoot, do you mean by this?"

* * *

><p>A thunderstorm woke the four boys individually early the next morning. The howling wind woke Remus Lupin, bringing back flashes of nightmares. A clash of thunder, resembling the sound of heavy fists on a wooden door, jerked Sirius Black into a sitting position. A flash of lightning startled Peter Pettigrew, illuminating the room and his open curtains were vulnerable to the explosion of light, and he almost fell out of bed. The sound of rain slamming on the glass of the window is what finally stirred James Potter out of slumber and he murmured something about letting the bloody owl in as he rubbed his eyes.<p>

"What time is it?" He grumbled out as he sat up in bed and saw his roommates moving about the room, or at least some of them. Remus was sitting on his bed, pulling on his socks, the first to be awoken several minutes before the rest. Peter was stumbling towards the bathroom, running a hand through his tousled light brown hair. Sirius was sprawled on his bed, his left arm over his face while his right was dangling off the edge of the mattress and his legs spread wide, moaning in distress at being woken up so early.

"Almost five thirty," Remus responded hoarsely, dark bags under his eyes.

Sirius groaned even louder and Remus shot him a dirty look he normally would have suppressed. James, albeit still waking up, caught it and threw his pillow at his exaggerative friend. "Cut it," he ordered before sinking back down into his bed. "Wake me when class starts in twenty minutes," he added, knowing full well that he wasn't falling back asleep anytime soon.

The boys, fully dressed and still yawning, made their way down to breakfast about an hour and a half later. They apparently weren't the only ones the storm woke up; half of the Great Hall was filled with bitter-looking students rubbing their eyes with their heads on the tables as they slowly shoveled cereal and oatmeal into their mouths.

As they settled into seats at the Gryffindor table, Sirius braved the bacon and sausage that most everyone was shying away from, not sure if their tired mouths could stand all the chewing. Remus rolled his eyes as he helped himself to a small portion of oatmeal. James grabbed a muffin but after attempting a couple bites of it pushed it away with an irritated glare at it before slumping his head down into folded arms on the table, joining several other students. Peter was able to force his way through his own bowl of cereal.

By the time the third class of the day rolled around, most of the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were able to shake the slumber out of their eyes. The class before lunch for the four friends was Potions and they took their respective seats: James and Remus a row behind Sirius and Peter. They had partner work today, trying their hand at a wound-cleaning potion.

Remus was a little miffed at being partnered with James, although he had to admit it was better than having Peter as his partner again. Out of the four friends, Sirius was by far the best at making potions, but he never took the class seriously, especially when partner work was involved. He liked to clown around and it never ended up well. He and James usually were partners, until about a month ago when a final mixed up ingredient (sworn a mistake, but suspected otherwise) nearly burnt the classroom down. Since then, Professor Slughorn had permanently assigned Remus and James together and Peter with Sirius.

Since the incident, the class had been spared any further near-death experiences, not to mean that James and Sirius never tried; Remus would never allow such a mistake to be made when his grade was on the line, and Sirius had to stay under the radar for a while. His behavior hadn't been up to par with the head of Gryffindor house's expectations as of late.

But it had been nearly six weeks since the disastrous anti-poison potion debacle, so it hardly came as any surprise to Remus when the otherwise quiet classroom was disturbed by a sudden popping noise coming from in front of him twenty minutes into class. He rolled his eyes, immediately knowing without having to look up, that it was Sirius and Peter's cauldron that made the sound. The pot started emitting a dark orange colored gas that quickly took up a lot of space in the high-ceilinged room.

"Peter! I told you not to put that much in!" Sirius called out, accusingly. "See, it says here, _half an inch_, not _a whole inch_!" Despite his convincing tone, Remus and James exchanged looks and they both knew that whatever the mistake had been, it was most likely caused by the boy who spoke.

Professor Slughorn rushed over to the scene as Peter shrunk in his skin, his face a tomato color in embarrassment. "What happened?" The usually jolly man asked in growing disarray. He was used to such scenes occurring in his class with boys such as Sirius and James, but when working with such ingredients, they were never pleasant and often took a while to clean up. He knew the talent that Sirius carried with his potion work and knew also that when he wanted to mess something up, he was going to mess it up big.

Within seconds, the entire classroom was covered in the orange smoke and the students abandoned their cauldrons, coughing as they hurried for the exit, not waiting for a dismissal from their teachers. They'd hover in the corridors, catching their breath, before the call of safety was given.

"Out, out!" Slughorn eventually did order, shooing Sirius and Peter away from the source of a growing foul stench of onions and cabbage that soon permeated the classroom. Sirius was able to mask his smile through the thick fog of smoke and his fingers, which were plugging his nose, as he raced for the door.

Remus patted Peter on the back as his body shook from the coughs once he made it to the corridor behind Sirius. "Really, Sirius?" The former scolded, his face screwed into an accusatory glare and his eyes shining in disapproval.

"What?" Sirius cried innocently. "I didn't do anything!"

"Seriously? Don't play stupid. We all know it was you." A small crowd of classmates was hovered around the four friends, the last handful of kids that didn't disperse further towards the stairwell, and gave the group looks. They were used to bickering from them, especially between Remus and Sirius or James.

Sirius narrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything," he repeated.

Remus rolled his eyes and turned his back to Sirius, giving up with him. Sirius was anything but docile; one of the traits he kept from his family was his stubbornness. He gave James a look of incredulity, as if he didn't believe what Remus was accusing him of. James shrugged and ignored him. He wouldn't get in the middle of it. He knew Sirius was guilty, but also knew it was all just a joke.

Slughorn called the class in about ten minutes later, after having cleared away the smoke and rid the classroom of the stench. A few of the other students' cauldrons had boiled over after leaving the ingredients setting in for too long and the professor had to clear away the mess of those as well. Unfortunately, it meant that the majority of the class had no potions to turn in, even unfinished, and Slughorn announced they would have to redo the potion at a later date, if they had time at the end of the semester to revisit it. Otherwise, they would simply have to memorize the procedure for the exam.

With that, class was dismissed early and the students gathered their belongings and headed for lunch fifteen minutes early.

Half of the class gave Sirius and Peter dirty looks as they exited the classroom, angry they wouldn't have the practice they should to make the potion. The other half was just happy to get out of class early. Remus was in the former group. He didn't speak to Sirius as they made their way to the Great Hall. Knowing he would get over it soon enough, Sirius didn't think much of it.

And he did get over it. By their fifth class of the day, History of Magic, he was talking to Sirius again as if the morning hadn't happened.

"Honestly, if you don't stop copying my notes, I will hit you," he warned his childish friend with an obvious teasing tone to his voice.

Sirius pouted. "But _Moony_! I can't pay attention in this class; you know that. It is entirely impossible. My attention span just can't handle it. Besides, your handwriting is much better than McKinnon's," he referenced the dark haired girl sitting in the row in front of them. Marlene, having heard the comment, discreetly lifted a specific finger in response, without turning around.

Remus shoved Sirius' face away lightly when he tried to take another peek, but didn't shield his parchment from his lazy friend's view.

* * *

><p>"My head hurts. Is it allowed to call in sick for detention?" Sirius asked over a dinner plate of mashed potatoes and fried chicken.<p>

"Considering you, somewhat miraculously, made it to all of your classes today, I'd say no," James answered, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Sorry, mate."

Remus added without looking up from the open textbook he had lying on the table, "Not to mention you've got a full plate you're scarfing down right now."

Sirius made a face at the comment, narrowing his eyes and miming the words his friend just uttered. James laughed and Peter smiled from across the table but looked down at his food quickly when Remus pointed his fork at his long, dark-haired comrade and returned, "I'm not your mother; don't make those faces at me, young man," all still without tearing his eyes from his Transfiguration book.

James laughed harder.

Sirius narrowed his eyes further and took a forceful bite out of his chicken leg, letting the conversation drop like the bits of skin that peeled off with his mouthful and fell to the plate below. Mary Macdonald looked on with disgust as she gingerly took a bite off her fork of her green beans.

"Moony, you know that an extension on your assignments means that you have more time to complete them, not that you have to get them done early, right?" James asked, lifting an eyebrow as Remus pulled out a piece of parchment to write notes on.

Remus ignored him. They had had this conversation dozens of times before. He wanted to get his work done before he had to go on sick leave. He had only three days left until then and he hated to look like someone who didn't take his schooling seriously. His friends didn't understand. Although they went through the first night with him, they didn't know the pain he endured and they didn't know the pressure he felt after it was over. His teachers may allow him a few extra days to get his papers turned in, but he wasn't interested in being allowed any leeway; he needed to prove to them, to his parents, to his peers, and to himself that he deserved to be here.

"Pete, you've got a little something right here," Sirius pointed a finger to his chin, gesturing where exactly Peter had a smudge of potatoes remaining on his face from his last bite, speaking a little bit louder than what was necessary. Mary Macdonald looked up again, this time at Peter, and laughed as he frantically wiped his napkin against his chin. His cheeks flushed red and while James laughed, Remus finally looked up from his book and gave a disapproving look at Sirius. "What?" The latter asked innocently, mouth full of chicken once more.

Remus shook his head. He wasn't going to start something here. There were too many people around. He just wished Sirius would be a little more respectful towards Peter.

He did, however, bring it up once they got to the safety of their dorm room later that night, after Sirius got back from detention with Professor McGonagall. Peter was in the common room working on some last minute assignment and James was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed.

Sirius sprawled out on his bed once more, exhausted both from the early start to the day and the two hour span cleaning the Trophy Room.

Remus confronted him then. "I really wish you wouldn't give Peter such a hard time."

Sirius lifted his head and gave him a look mixed with both confusion and amusement. "What?"

"Peter. Lay off him once in a while, hey? He doesn't need you embarrassing him all the time."

Sirius let out a short laugh. "I don't treat him any different than I do you or James, mate." He let his head fall back on his pillow again.

"He doesn't take it as well."

"Well how is that my problem, then?" Irritation seeped into Sirius' voice at this point and he threw his hand up. He was worn out and wanted nothing more than to take a quick, hot shower and collapse into bed for the night. Remus always got testy around this time of the month, but he had been on Sirius' case more than usual. Typically he would disappear to the library and stay out of the way of his friends and anyone else he might lose his cool around and he had done just that while Sirius was in detention. But lately he seemed to have been going out of his way to call Sirius out on things.

"_Would you quit leaving your dirty clothes all over the bathroom floor?"_

"_Stop breathing so loudly."_

"_If you'd quit acting out so much, maybe McGonagall wouldn't keep putting you in detention."_

"_I really don't think you've gotten enough points taken from Gryffindor this semester yet. Maybe you should go spray paint the side of one of the greenhouses and get another twenty taken away."_

"_Seriously? Don't play stupid. We all know it was you."_

Always with the same, critical, condescending tone of voice. It wasn't as if James never gave Peter a hard time or got points docked from Gryffindor or was the ringleader behind pranks.

"It's your problem because you're the one giving him a hard time! He's _humiliated_, Sirius. Day after day." Remus narrowed his eyes and his voice rose.

James turned off the water in the bathroom but no other sound came from his direction.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Remus was only more aggravated at this. "Don't be such a child all the time." He looked back down at the textbook on his bed he had been studying before Sirius entered the room.

Sirius sat up again and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. "I understand you're PMS-ing and all, but quit taking it out on me."

"Guys," James finally stepped in, standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

"I'm not _PMS-ing_. You're being immature and you know it."

"Remus."

"I'm not being any different than I ever have been before. Sorry if you don't like it anymore. That's not my problem to deal with, so don't drag me down with you."

"Sirius."

"Give it a break, Remus. Whatever you're dealing with, leave me out of it."

"Sirius," James warned again.

He ignored him. "I don't know if it's your whole werewolf thing or what, but whatever it is, I don't give a shit. I don't need you on my case all the time. I'm not doing anything to hurt you, so shove it." He stood up and his fists were clenched.

James crossed the room in seconds and stood in between his two friends. "Go take a shower, Sirius."

It took a few moments, but Sirius finally gave Remus one last glare and headed towards the bathroom, grabbing his pajamas off the bed, where he left them that morning.

"It's whatever _you're _dealing with that's the problem." Remus wasn't quite ready to let it go. "You're trying to make up for the attention you lacked at home by acting out at school. Make all the jokes you want; the amount of people you get to love you here isn't going to make up for the lack of love you get from your family."

"Remus," James' voice was more demanding now and he took another few steps to get in the middle of the two once more, hands ready to fend off any approaching violence.

Sirius laughed. "You're kidding right?" He looked to James, one of the first acknowledgements he had gotten the whole argument. "He's kidding," he repeated, more of a statement this time.

"No. You're dealing with issues from your family, and I get that, but the way you are dealing with them isn't the way to go about."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm not dealing with anything."

Remus scoffed. "Don't kid yourself. You left home. Obviously there's something going on there."

"There's nothing going on there. I couldn't care less about my family," Sirius defended, his voice consumed with rage.

Shaking his head, Remus took a step forward; James stood his ground, giving Remus a look that the latter ignored, warning him to back off. "We've been tiptoeing around this issue since term started, but it's been a couple months now, Sirius. It's time to own up to what's going on. Your family hurt you. That was wrong. But you can't deal with it by breaking every rule at Hogwarts."

"You've been _tiptoeing around it_?" Sirius repeated. "Around what issue? There is no issue!"

"Sirius," James interceded again. "We know you've been handling this whole leaving home thing by pulling pranks and getting in trouble." Sirius tore his eyes away from Remus to turn his glare onto his best friend. "You've been avoiding talking about it. Whether or not you claim it's affecting you, you left home. That's a big deal. We've just been waiting for you to have a breakdown over it, but we can't do that anymore. You need to talk about this before it's too late."

Sirius' jaw dropped slightly and he couldn't do anything but stand there with his mouth open for a few seconds. He stared from James to Remus then back to James again. "You've been waiting for me to have a breakdown?" He repeated again. He let out another short laugh. "You're ridiculous," he added, muttering under his breath and shaking his head. "I'm not going to have a 'breakdown.' I'm not acting out on accord of my leaving home. I don't need you guys to look over me constantly. I'm a big boy."

"Sirius"- James started, but Sirius cut him off.

"I'm going to take a shower. We're done here." With that, he headed for the bathroom without stopping this time. The door closed behind him and about ten seconds later, Remus and James heard the shower water running.

James gave Remus a look that he pointedly ignored. "Seriously?" He asked incredulously. No one had brought up Sirius' summer and they hadn't really been planning on it. Sirius wasn't the type to talk about his emotions and he was likely to overreact over the slightest inclination that his friends were worried about him. Case and point: the past five minutes.

The door to the dormitory opened and Peter walked into the room. He felt the tension instantly, although he usually is slow to pick up on things. He looked from James to Remus a couple of times before asking, "What happened?"


End file.
